Metal Effect
by manbagcar
Summary: In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. The basis for the incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time. The civilizations of the galaxy called it... The Metal Effect. Mass Effect/Brutal Legend Crossover. Rated M for METAL (And language)
1. Damning Eden

**A/N: I made it better.**

* * *

In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for the incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.

They called it the greatest discovery in human history.

The civilizations of the galaxy called it...

The Metal Effect

* * *

The first time Shepard saw Chief Williams, she held her ground atop a ruined stone pillar on Eden Prime. A stray shot had ignited her hairspray, wreathing her head in flame as she howled her furry at the oncoming hordes. Her weapon was fully half her size and easily twice her weight, and it sang in perfect harmony with its wielder, three-inch steel razor spikes thundering from its tusked maw to impale the techno-bright, flashing armour that marked its targets as Geth.

Shepard couldn't help but smirk as he felt Kaiden Alenko shift in his studded leather-and-crematic Alliance combat suit. It may not have been love at first sight for the Brütal Lieutenant, but it was damn close. Shepard slapped Alenko on the back. It would be good to tease him about something other than his weirdly not-long, soft-rock styled hair.

Alone, a Geth is as dangerous as the average metal dog, and around half as smart. A squad of Geth, rainbow-lined faceless visors emoting in perfect sync, is difficult to deal with. The ten squads of heavily armed troopers facing Shepard, Williams, and Alenko was downright deadly. Worse, Alenko has spotted several keytars before being pinned by technicolour gunfire.

"Let's just fucking shoot them already!" Williams hissed for the eight time. Shepard sighed. William's passion for bloodshed was endearing, but getting ventilated by techno-jackoffs was not on Shepard's to-do list for the day. So he sat back against the steel-and-laminate pillar he was using for cover, and took a breath.

Shepard was a Roadie. There weren't many Roadies in the Alliance; those who join humanity's legions have dreams of glory and metal. No one joins up just to be on the crew. But Shepard liked it. He was quiet, he was quick, and he was good with people. That's all being a Roadie was about, really. Getting stuff done, getting the right people into the right places, and doing it without anyone even knowing you were there.

The first Geth died as Shepard's omni-axe lopped off its head. Shepard forwent the traditional cry of '_Decapitation!'_ that all Alliance soldiers were encouraged to perform, and instead used the time to unload into several of the headless Geth's friends.

Williams let out a practically orgasmic woop as she leveled her massive Razorfire Cannon at the thickest crowd of Geth and opened fire. Alenko covered her, Brütal field flashing to unmake any who would strike back against Williams.

Alone, a Geth is as dangerous as the average dog. A squad of Geth is difficult to deal with. The ten squads of heavily armed troopers facing Shepard, Williams, and Alenko didn't stand a goddamn chance.

Nihlus, the Turian Spectre, was dead. Shepard didn't know Nihlus well enough to feel one way or the other, but he still snapped a solemn salute to the charred and blackened corpse before moving on.

The road through the spaceport to the First One beacon was much, much too quiet. Alenko's stumbling attempts to talk to Williams were painful, but Shepard preferred it to the unnerving silence.

The beacon was ruined. The twisting leather and chains and impossibly-living flesh were blackened and peeled, bleeding viscera onto the dull metal ground. A single straight finger of steel poked out from the gore, deep in the heart of the beacon; probably the control rod or power source or _spine_ of the broken thing.

Williams occupied herself with reciting every curse in the known galaxy while simultaneously smashing everything within arm's reach. Alenko and Shepard poked at the remains of the beacon. Maybe, somewhere, there was something salvageable.

A bullet slamming into his shields alerted Shepard that he was in trouble. The next six bullets reinforced this idea, sending Shepard, Williams and Alenko scurrying for cover. Geth poured out from every possible direction, their trap sprung, robotic masks flashing the same rainbow strobe as their weapons. Worse, the Geth were not alone. Synthetic humans, thrumming with the same lightshow as their fully robotic masters, flowed like a river over walls and through doors. They were unarmed, but each one has a massive, trilling speaker lodged in their chest. These empty husks broadcast the techno-synth of the Geth, shattering glass and arcing electricity over every conductive surface.

Williams laughed as she fired blindly over her cover. She was in nirvana - there were so many targets that she simply could not miss. Alenko added his Brütal strength, but he knew the same thing that Shepard did - they were outnumbered and outmatched.

A voice spoke to Sheppard, then. Feminine and sweet, cruel and deadly and oddly mothering. Shepard stood. He was vaguely aware of Alenko shouting something, and Williams alternating between waving for him to get down and flipping him off. As if of its own mind, Shepard hand reached to the jutting finger/spine of the ruined First One beacon.

He pulled.

A voice, different from before, howled in his head.

_**TOUCH YE NOT THIS SACRED AXE, LEST YE SUFFER THE WRATH OF THE TAINTED COIL!**_

And Shepard remembered nothing more until he woke up, days later, aboard the Alliance warship Normandy.


	2. Illuminate

**A/N: Sorry for the delay - got a real people job from 9-5, and it's murdered my time, and my writing ability (programming knocks me out of writing mode). But it's you, the fans, that have dragged me out of my torpor to give you chapter 2. Fans are the most powerful force in the galaxy, and I'll do my best to deliver you to the promise land of rock. **

* * *

"It takes more than a tale of visions and a bitching axe to sway the council," The asari councilor breathed. "And much more than that to accuse a Spectre of treason." The councilor took a moment to adjust her corset, the turian councilor shooting her mostly-exposed chest a quick leer through his pauldron spikes. The Asari councilor just shook her head, eyes hidden under layers of thick, ceremonial eyeliner, as she politely told the humans to take their claim of Saren's betrayal and fuck off with it.

Undina was beside himself, shaking from his snakeskin boots to the top of his (obviously fake) hair.

When Shepard had woken up, all he remembered was that the First One beacon had _hurt_. The vision it burned into his brain was jumbled - fire and death and slaughter and bones and blood. There was something after that, too. A haze of fury and blood and violence. From what an overly enthusiastic Gunnery Chief had said, that part was Shepard going berserk on the Geth.

Human survivors had spoken while Shepard was unconscious. They told of another turian - a spectre - named Saren, who had killed Nihlus. Captain Anderson was adamant that they speak to the council. And after he explained to an irate Williams that Saren was most likely behind the massacre of Eden Prime, Williams and Alenko were adamant too.

In hindsight, speaking to the council so soon may not have been the best plan.

Shepard ignored the furious Undina as he screeched his displeasure safe within the walls of his embassy; A cranky turian police officer had made mention that he had a lead on Saren, something that could prove guilt, and Shepard wasn't one to pass up an opportunity.

* * *

"Fist hired these guys," The turian officer - Garrus - said. "A local boss, runs a bar. Cheap drinks, adequate dancing, if you're into that kind of thing. Not sure why he'd attack a clinic, though..."

Garrus let the question trail off as he turned to the flame-haired medic that he, and Shepard, had saved. She was shaken, and her little iron spiders cowered with her. All human Alliance medics were given spiders to keep their bass strings fresh, and to intimidate hypochondriacs back to heath.

"I treated a quarian," the woman stammered out. Shepard couldn't place the accent. "Gunshot wound, toxic rounds. Poor things wouldn't tell me anything, but she was quite concerned about her omni-synth. Asked how to get down to the wards."

"Maybe she had something on it," Kaiden offered, "Maybe information?"

Garrus' mandibles twitched. "And wanted to go to the wards with it. If she wanted to run, she'd go to the docks, which means she's trying to trade. Trading information's Shadow Broker business, and Fist is his contact on-station."

Shepard shifted. "So why would Fist try to kill a potential customer?"

Beneath the war paint and studded armour, Shepard could have sworn he saw Garrus flash a smile.

"Let's go find out, shall we?"

* * *

Shepard was a Roadie. He was good with people. And perhaps it was because of Shepard's natural affinity to the roadie way that he managed to double his team's size in less than half an hour.

It also may have been why he felt so comfortable talking a half-ton krogan battlemaster into joining their raid on Fist. It wasn't a particularly difficult job convincing the krogan - Wrex - as he'd been hired to murder Fist anyway. Although Shepard had to admit that Krogan armour kind of weirded him out. All the toxic colours and goggles and gas masks made the hulking creature stand out like a sore thumb.

Alenko, Williams, and Garrus were a bit skeptical at first, but seeing him crush three men to death at once proved his value. Shepard didn't even really mind all that much when Wrex blasted Fist into fine pink mist after the poor bastard spilled the beans.

Shepard and his newly enlarged team sprinted though the corridors of the Citadel. He had a name, a place, and, hopefully, a solid piece of evidence to convince the council of Saren's assholery.

* * *

They'd almost been too slow to reach Tali. Half hidden by a ring of assailants, she looked pretty much as Shepard expected a quarian to look: glowing bands in circuit patters over a midnight black form-fitting containment suit. It was strangely Geth, in a way.

For an instant, Shepard worried that they'd be too slow to save her.

Then the crowd around her explosively parted, and Shepard stopped being worried. Tali wielded a thirty kilogram shotgun-guitar hybrid, each rapport from its muzzle shaking the very floor Shepard stood on.

Wrex drove past Shepard, head down towards the nearest enemy. "HEY, PYJAK! I BET YOU CAN'T KILL _HALF_ OF WHAT I CAN."

It was with years of training as a Roadie that Shepard managed to catch the raised eyebrow from within Tali's mask.

"You are _so_ on."

* * *

The Council, cornered with evidence, fired Saren and made Shepard a Spectre in his place. Shepard was, for the most part, fairly thrilled. Udina had tried to steal his thunder, harping for human this and human that, but Williams had been kind enough to use her head. Judging by the rather shocking lack of blood, she also used a fair amount of restraint - Udina probably didn't even have that much of a fractured skull.

But politicking had cost Captain Anderson his ship. The entire crew, including the three newest, non-human additions, were upset to the point of riot, but a firm talking too (and a firm smack) from Anderson set everyone straight. They had work to do, and the newly appointed Commander knew that when there's work to do, you do it.

They were headed to the Artemis Tau cluster. Saren had an Asari accomplice, and that accomplice's daughter was last seen somewhere in the Knossos system.

With a gesture, Shepard marked the swath of space they needed to be. He could feel the Normandy, the most advanced ship in the Alliance, hum beneath him. Joker, the ship's pilot, nodded his head in tune with the music pounding out of his oversized headphones.

Deep in the ship's heart, Tali and the Normandy's engineers played their show, joined by Williams, Wrex, and Garrus. The unpracticed band made the ship groan, but Metal Effect core glowed green on its stage as the Fans - the power source of the galaxy - ebbed and flowed across the core's surface.

The Normandy hit the Metal Relay and flashed out of existence. Twenty two songs later, it crashed back into reality over the volcanic world of Therum with enough force to shake mountaintops.


End file.
